Rhode Island Constitution (November 5, 1842):
<PREAMBLE. We, the people of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and to transmit the same, unimpaired, to succeeding generations, do ordain and establish this Constitution of government...
ARTICLE 1, SECTION 3. Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free, and all attempts to influence it by temporal punishment, or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness; and whereas a principal object of our venerated ancestors, in their migration to this country and their settlement of this State, was, as they expressed it, to hold forth a lively experiment that a flourishing civil state may stand and be best maintained with full liberty in religious concernments;
We therefore declare, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or to support any religious worship, place, or Ministry whatever, except in fulfillment of his own voluntary contract; nor enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods; nor disqualified from holding any office; nor otherwise suffer on account of his religious belief; and that every man shall be free to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and to profess, and by argument to maintain, his opinion in matters of religion; and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect his civil capacity.
ARTICLE 1, SECTION 4. Slavery shall not be permitted in this state...
ARTICLE 3, SECTION 3. All general officers shall take the following engagement before they act in their respective offices, to wit: You being by the free vote of the electors of this state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, elected unto the place of do solemnly swear (or, affirm) to be true and faithful unto this state, and to support the Constitution of this state and of the United States; that you will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties of your aforesaid office to the best of your abilities, according to law: So Help You God. Or: This affirmation you make and give upon the peril of the penalty of perjury...
ARTICLE 12, SECTION 1: The diffusion of knowledge, as well as of virtue, among the people being essential to the preservation of their rights and liberties, it shall be the general Assembly to promote public schools, and to adopt all means which they deem necessary and proper to secure to the people the advantages and opportunities of education.> 1842RI001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1842RI001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Rhode Island Constitution, November 5, 1842.